=== Sporting, Impact clash at Stade Saputo ===
Montreal, QC (SportsNetwork.com) - Sporting Kansas City will aim for a second
consecutive victory on Saturday when the club travels to the Stade Saputo to
battle Eastern Conference rivals Montreal Impact.
After suffering a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the New England Revolution at
Gillette Stadium on April 26, the defending MLS Cup champions bounced back
with a strong showing the following week in a 2-0 win over the Columbus Crew.
Jacob Peterson opened the scoring for Sporting after just 10 minutes when
Chance Myers' cross from the right flank connected with Paulo Nagamura, whose
first-time shot was blocked by Giancarlo Gonzalez but eventually fell to
Peterson following a deflection off Michael Parkhurst. Peterson then made no
mistake with a side volley from 10 yards out for his 14th career MLS goal and
first since the final game of the 2012 regular season.
Claudio Bieler then put the game out of reach for Columbus in stoppage time as
he collected an inch-perfect chip from Graham Zusi in front of goal and tapped
it home with ease to seal all three points.
"Start to finish, an excellent performance by us. I think it's the best
performance of the year for us," Sporting manager Peter Vermes said. "One of
the most difficult things in the game today was the weather. We haven't had a
chance to play in this kind of weather. All you guys know that are around
here, the weather has been pretty cold. And having to come out here with it
going into the 80's, it was very difficult. These guys left everything on the
field."
"It felt really good. Going into the game, we ultimately knew (Columbus was)
on a really good run of form," Peterson said. "They've made some big
improvements this year. The most important things for us, coming off a lost
last week, was to test ourselves against a good team. Fortunately we came out
on top today."
Montreal, meanwhile, will be hoping to secure a second consecutive victory in
league play following a 1-0 result over the Philadelphia Union at home on
April 26.
The Impact opened the scoring in the 14th minute when midfielder Patrice
Bernier intercepted a pass along the sidelines near center field.
Dribbling towards goal, the Impact captain hammered a low shot that was
knocked down by Union keeper Zac MacMath as he dove to his left, but Felipe
fired home the rebound for his second of the season.
The win marked the Impact's first three-point effort of the season.
"The group has been working really hard and it really felt that we had a home
field advantage in the game. We fed off their energy," said Impact head coach
Frank Klopas. "I'm really happy for the guys because once again, they put the
work in at training and had the right attitude coming into this game."
Montreal will also be hoping for a little revenge against Sporting, which
thumped the Impact, 4-0, in the teams' first meeting this season.
05/09 15:39:31 ET